EDUCATION. COMMUNITY.

HOPE. OPPORTUNITY.

LATEST NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2019

ECHO has just launched a fundraising campaign on Global Giving. We are trying to raise enough money to see us through for the next year and…to start the preparations for procuring a new library van! To view the campaign click onto our Global Giving page and please share with all your friends and family.

We are also very proud to announce that ECHO was nominated and then received an award for Good Multicultural Practice from the International Federation of Libraries Association at the end of August. Spearheaded by coordinator Keira Dignan, ECHO published a paper about, well, multicultural practice and its challenges in relation to our experience here in Attica. You can read the paper here if you would like to know more.

Our two coordinators looking somewhat bemused but happy with the other speakers on the panel and the IFLA multicultural practice committe.

About ECHO

ECHO was begun by four individuals who spent time volunteering in EKO, an informal refugee camp built upon a petrol station 20kms south of the Greece-FYROM border, in the spring of 2016. It did not take long for us to be completely taken by the warm hospitality and perseverence of the roughly 2000 residents of the camp.

Beyond the incredible stories, the boisterous children, and the defiant smiles we encountered, there were two things about EKO which struck us above all else: the hunger for knowledge, and the infectious spirit of community.

Despite a need for the most basic things - water, food, shelter, clothing - we witnessed a far stronger desire to learn, and to put time and skills to use. In the face of seemingly endless struggle and daunting uncertainty, we saw how the spirit of community conquered suffering with dance circles, shared meals, and the common hope of completing their journey to a new, safe, life. Inspired by this, we established ECHO.

Our aim is simple: to go where we must, and do what we can, to create spaces for learning and community within refugee camps. Our name, as well as alluding to the place where it all began - EKO camp - speaks to those things we are determined to nurture:

EDUCATION. COMMUNITY. HOPE. OPPORTUNITY.

Mission

We hope to transform the sites in which we work from places of stagnancy and waiting, to places where dreams and drive remain alive. Much like the way an echo carries, the voices of those on the journey to safety can and must be heard miles from where they began, and further still.